I get dressed up now and then but still have a hard time letting go of the tomboy I was as a child. My friends think I'm joking when I've said that my husband picks out my outfits, but it's true.

So when I was pregnant with my daughter, I was adamant that she wasn't going to be dressed in frilly, lacy outfits like a doll. And because pink wasn't my favorite color, I favored blue, green and yellow for baby clothes - so much so, she was often mistaken for a boy as an infant.

She has some pink and dresses that we received as gifts. We did not object to dressing her up for special occasions but I always had a back-up casual outfit for her to wear so she could be comfortable.My husband and I agreed that, within reason, we would let her make her own choices when she was old enough to voice an opinion, but that came a lot sooner than expected. After her second birthday party, she fell in love with dresses - and pink.

Did she think she got presents because of her adorable ensemble?

I have to admit, in retrospect, she did seem to get more attention from others and us whenever she wore a dress so I can't blame her for preferring them to pants. But where did the pink preference come from? Did I ensure that it'd be a favorite color because it was rarely seen in her closet?

The zenith of this pink infatuation came when one day she insisted on wearing pink pants, a pink shirt, pink socks and a pink hat. I hadn't even realized we owned that many items in pink. I think at the time, if there were more pink items, she would have piled them on. She reminded me of the "pink nightmare" from A Christmas Story. She wasn't in a bunny suit, but it looked close. I made the mistake of telling her she looked silly and she started to cry. "I don't look silly. I look pretty," she said.

I felt terrible. "Yes, you look very pretty, " I said and hugged her.

And that's when I officially surrendered. She now has princess "dress up" outfits and more pink than I ever would have liked. She certainly has more dresses than I do.

But I'm not worried. I've seen her try to ride her bicycle in a dress and play with race cars. So she can still be a tomboy -- just with more style.